Playing dirty won't solve trash problem

Bengaluru’s so-called ‘Kasa Surisuva Habba’, or garbage-dumping festival, has stirred a storm of reactions, exposing the deep-rooted complexities of the city’s waste management conundrum. The Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML) claims that the initiative, which involves returning waste to the doorsteps of habitual offenders, targets only those who persistently dump garbage in public spaces. But what was meant as a stern wake-up call has instead become a spectacle of retributive justice. Dumping garbage outside people’s homes, even if it is symbolic, reflects civic failure more than public indiscipline.

Undeniably, citizens share part of the blame. Civic apathy runs deep in Bengaluru. Residents who casually throw waste onto the roads, believing it is someone else’s job to clea